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Sloth Baby-Birthing Bungee Belay (Umbilical Abseiling)

EnolaGaia

I knew the job was dangerous when I took it ...
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Sloths birth their young aloft in trees. Slip-ups happen. Luckily, the sloth umbilicus is capable of belaying the newborn's fall into its strange new world.

NOTE: The video originally posted with this article has been moved or replaced by another since the article was first posted. I don't know if it's stable now.
Wild Video of Sloth Giving Birth Shows Baby 'Bungee-Jumping' With Umbilical Cord

A sloth's umbilical cord can be a lifeline for its young in more ways than one. When giving birth, it can stop a slippery newborn from falling right out of the tree, sort of like a natural bungee cord.

A rare glimpse of just such an incredible moment was recently caught on camera in Costa Rica, by local guide Steven Vela.

Pulling over to merely observe a brown-throated sloth (Bradypus variegatus), he and his vehicle of tourists instead bore witness to the late stages of sloth labour.

Seconds after birth, a newborn sloth can be seen suddenly slipping out of its mother's arms and falling, saved only by its umbilical cord.

Dangling from this last tenuous connection, the mother then scoops her infant up and begins cleaning it, at a remarkably un-sloth-like pace. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.sciencealert.com/wild-f...e-baby-bungee-jumping-from-the-umbilical-cord
 
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